Highlight Moments
- The importance of our identity in Christ are these three things.
- God loves us, but he loves us so much he does not want to leave us on a path that is going away from him.
- We are terribly selfish, but we are tremendously loved by God.
- If God were your father, you would love me.
- Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you; go now and leave your life of sin.
Summary
The sermon focuses on the importance of having faith in Jesus and understanding our identity in Him. It emphasizes that while we are sinful, we are also tremendously loved by God, who calls us to leave our sinful ways and walk in freedom.
Sermon Audio
Transcript
Thank you, Jordan. Let's give him a hand, guys. How are you guys doing this morning? Okay, I'm kind of tired, but you guys are kind of tired too. But I'm super excited to be here and to talk about this topic with you guys today. So if you don't have a Bible yet, please raise your hand. And if you would like some notes, please raise your hand. I'd highly encourage you to take notes. Great way to remember more of what we're talking about. And it's a great way to get delicious candy into your bellies after service, which I personally, I love. Of course, I don't have to take notes to do that because I work here, so I can just eat as much candy as I want. But if you guys want that, easy way to do it is to take notes. Well, guys, today we're going to be talking about faithful servants and what that looks like. And specifically, we're going to be seeing the importance of having our faith in Jesus. I'm really excited to talk about John chapter 8 with you guys today. And, you know, I know I keep saying that, but I just keep being excited to talk to you guys about this stuff. So without further ado, let's flip our Bibles open to John chapter 8. As we begin John chapter 8 and just to start us off real quick. What book are we in? Okay, this is good. I need interaction for this one. So we're in the book of John. What chapter are we in? Okay, if you guys are there, can we get a let's do this? Okay, sounds pretty good. If you're not there yet, please open up to John chapter 8. We are in the book of John. And does anyone know why John is writing this book? Just shout it out. Why is he writing this book? So we can know who the real Jesus is and this is important because today we are going to look at how back then there were actually fake stories of Jesus that were circulating. This is a big reason that John is writing the stuff that he writes, not only the gospel of John, but also the epistles of John so that his audience knows who the real Jesus is and what the real stories are because there were some fake stories going around and we're going to look at one of them today. But that's not what we're going to be focusing on. We're focusing on John chapter 8. You guys are exactly right. John 20 31 says these things are written that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. What are we going to have in his name? Life. Perfect. The importance of our identity in Christ are these three things. We're going to be able to hear our condition. We're going to be able to know our father and then ultimately we are able to walk in freedom because of that identity. It's important for us to remember as we look at the identity that we have in Christ and that importance the ultimate importance of having our identity in Christ is that God works all things for the benefit of those who love him and we'll see why this is important as we look at these different things today. So again, if you are now in John chapter 8, can we get a let's do this? Perfect. We're going to start out reading verses 1 through 3 as we look at our very first thing. We need to hear the condition that we are in. What condition do you guys think we're in? Probably not a good condition. Let's check it out. Verse 1 says Jesus went to the Mount of Olives at dawn. He appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and then skipping down to verse 10 through 11 Jesus straightened up and asked her woman. Where are they? Has no one condemned you? No one sir. She said neither do I condemn you Jesus declared go now and leave your life of sin. So straight off the bat, we see something really interesting and really controversial. Does anyone know what adultery is? What is it? What is it? It's cheating. You have a married man and a married woman and one of them cheats on their partner by having a relationship with someone else. That's what adultery is. Do you guys think that's good or bad bad? You got to know that. Well, what happens here? Someone who is doing that a woman who is in the act of adultery is caught and brought out before Jesus. And what do you think Jesus says to her? Get away from me. You're evil. You're sinful. I don't want to have anything to do with you. Of course not. That's not what happens here. Let's take a look. We see this woman sinning, but what happens? Jesus says, neither do I condemn you and then tells her to go and sin no more. Now, how many of you guys in here know people who've committed adultery? What seriously? Dang, I was not expecting that. Well, anyways, I don't know anyone personally who's committed adultery, but I want to look at it through a different perspective because we probably know people from a different controversial act, which is homosexuality. What is that? What is that? Adrian? You said, oh, what does that mean? Okay, when a boy likes a boy or a girl likes a girl. Yes, that's what homosexuality is. It's very controversial and I want to look at two common responses to that in the Bible. Homosexuality is condemned just like adultery. But how many of you guys know of people who are gay by raise of hands? Okay, that is more than the people who said they know people have committed adultery. So that makes sense. These are two common responses to that on one side. We have people who say people who are gay evil. The Bible condemns it get away from me. I hate you and basically go to hell. I want you to get away from me. I don't want to have anything to do with you. That's one side and the other side says gay people are great. We want to tolerate all lifestyles and let everyone do whatever they want. Which of these sides do you think Jesus sides with? Which one? I'm going to say neither of these sides are correct because when we look at the woman who is caught in adultery is adultery wrong. Yes, would Jesus be right in saying you are sinning? This is wrong. Which would he be right in saying that to her? I think so because that is that is the truth. But what does Jesus say instead instead of saying I hate you you're sinning get away from me, which is a common response. He says what I love you. Well, where does he say that? He says I do not condemn you. What does that mean? I don't condemn you. You don't know. Well, let me tell you those those religious leaders the Pharisees who brought her forward were wanting to condemn her. Do you guys know what the penalty would have been? Death. So what do you think the Pharisees want to do? And what do you what do you think the Pharisees want to see Jesus do? Kill her stone her to death because of this adultery. But what does Jesus say? I'm not going to do that. Why? Why would he say that? Because he loves her. But what does he also say? He doesn't just say I don't hate you. I love you. I came here to die for you. I love you that much and I want to tolerate every lifestyle. It's okay. He doesn't say that either. He says I love you. We know that God loves us, but he also says leave your sin and come to me and I believe that is what Jesus says throughout Scripture to the woman caught in adultery to our gay friends and to us that God loves us, but he loves us so much. He doesn't want us to stay in sin. Well, why is that? Any guesses? Why would God not want us to just live our own life and do our own thing trend? In heaven. There's a better way for us than going our own way and we'll see what the result of our own way is in just a little bit. Our relationship in Jesus begins with an accurate view of ourself. Do you guys know what an accurate view of ourself is? According to the Bible? Yeah, Ryan. We're sinful and. Selfish and. And loved by God. This thing right here is true of all of us. God loves us, but he loves us so much. He does not want to leave us on a path that is going away from him a biblical view of ourself an accurate view of ourself. The condition we need to hear is this that we are terribly selfish, but we are tremendously loved. There's two sides to it. We are wrong. Why do I say that we're selfish? Any guesses? Because we are. I love your confidence, but you guys have any examples. Like what? Envy you see someone else who has something awesome and you say in your heart, I want that I deserve that more than them. We all practice selfishness daily and it's when we say God, I see your way in your word and that is so awesome for other people. I love that. You gave that good way for other people, but me Jacob. I know my way around these things. Okay, I'm going to go my own way. And if you're going on a path that's away from God, what do you think that looks like for eternity? Bad eternity apart from God. That's probably not good. God loves us too much to leave us on that path. And so he says to all of us, I love you, but you need to leave that path and come back to me. That's what he says to this woman. I believe that's what he says to all of us. We need to hear that condition because that is what the Bible says about who we are. We're terribly selfish, but we are tremendously loved by God. So first we hear our condition. That is absolutely foundational and understanding our identity in Christ who we are in Jesus. But then our next thing, if we know who we are, well, who is this father who loves us? I just said that God loves us. But who is this father? Well, let's check this out. Skipping down a little bit. We see in verse 17 through 19. Jesus says this in your own law. It is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself. My other witness is the father who sent me pay attention to this because I'm going to touch on this in just a second. And then they asked him, where's your father? Jesus replies, you do not know me or my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. And then skipping way down to verse 39 through 42. They respond with Abraham as our father. They answered, if you were Abraham's children, said Jesus, then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you're looking for a way to kill me. A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father. And then they respond with this. Pay attention to this. We are not illegitimate children. They protested. The only father we have is God himself. Jesus said to him, if God were your father, you would love me. For I have come here from God. I have not come on my own. God sent me. Do you guys see what happens here? You don't? That's perfect. That's why I'm teaching you guys about it. A few things happen. Jesus is teaching the Jews that he is the way to life. And then they make fun of him. But Jesus doubles down. You know, I wrote on this that they make fun of him. But actually what happens here is absolutely horrific. So let's take a look. Who is Jesus's earthly dad? Joseph the carpenter. You guys are totally right. Do you guys know where Joseph shows up in the New Testament? So Joseph only shows up when Jesus is a kid. By the time Jesus is grown up. Joseph does not show up anymore. At all. And so many scholars believe that by this time that Jesus is about 30 years old. Joseph has passed away. Back then. He didn't live too long and Joseph would probably be 50 years or older by this point in Jesus's life. And many scholars believe Joseph by this point has passed away. That's unfortunate. That's really, really sad. And when Jesus tells these religious leaders. That his father has sent him. Do you see what they respond with? Really Jesus your father sent you. I'm sorry. Where is your dad? Did you hear what just happened there? They would have known that Jesus's father had passed away or wasn't in the picture anymore. Either of those would be terrible. And what do they do when he says my father has sent me to tell you these truths to bring you back to him. What do they respond with? Where's your father? Do you see the evil and what they're doing here? And it's not just that. Okay. Okay. Okay. So I just said that that Joseph would be Jesus's adoptive father. Okay, who does the Bible say is Jesus's father? Kind of a confusing question. But yeah, it says God is his father. So he's talking about the father here that he has sent Jesus and Mary when she was pregnant with Jesus. Was she married? No, who is she going to be married to? Joseph. Okay, check this out. What is the next thing they say first? They say really Jesus your father sent you. Where's he at? Then they say Jesus says you're doing the works of your own father talking about the devil. And then he says we are not illegitimate children. We know who our father is. Let me ask you guys. Do you guys believe that you guys believe in the virgin birth what the Bible says about it? Yeah, that Mary was not married and that she gave birth to Jesus miraculously. It was a miracle. Okay, who was she going to be married to? Joseph if the Pharisees and the other religious leaders don't believe Jesus a story. Do they believe that it was a miracle that Jesus was born? No, what was Mary married to Joseph? No later in Jewish writing when they were writing about Jesus after Jesus has died and rose again. They actually say. That Jesus was probably born out of Mary having an adulterous affair apart from Joseph. Do you guys know that? So when I hear that and I look at this, do you guys know what illegitimate children are? It's when you have a mom and a dad and one of them one of them cheats. And has a child outside of that marriage. So what is happening here? We are not illegitimate children. Do you see what they're saying about Jesus? They are saying first off really your dad sent you where is he and then secondly, they're saying oh, yeah. Well, you know, we know who our father is. Do you know who your father is Jesus because they think that Mary cheated on Joseph. Do you see what the Pharisees are doing here? Now guys, I told you guys I would tell you guys one of the fake stories about Jesus. Can we all agree? This is just strictly evil. This is horrible. If anyone said this to one of you guys, I would be floored. You guys would be upset. If someone said that to me. We're about to see what would happen. You guys ever read Jesus's stories and think I'm really glad it wasn't me in that situation. You guys ever think that I read Jesus's stories, the stories about Jesus and I think I'm really glad that I wasn't the one in there because I would not be dying like that. I would not be doing these same things. I'm really glad that you guys don't trust me to be your Savior because I would not be as good as Jesus was for sure. I want to look at one of these fake stories about Jesus because if I was in Jesus's shoes and the Pharisees said that to me, this is probably what I would do. So let's check it out. This is a fake story about Jesus. One of the reasons that John is writing. Yeah, you can turn it. One of the reasons that John is writing the letters. He writes in the New Testament is to make sure his audience knows what the real stories are from the fake ones. And one of the fake ones was this that when this fake Jesus was a little boy and another little boy brushed up against him, you know, pushed him whatever it irritated this fake Jesus. And so when we see Jesus here saying neither do I condemn you go and leave your life of sin. What do you guys think Jesus would do if someone pushed him? What do you think? Huh? Forgive him. So hey, that wasn't nice, but I love you in this fake story. Fake Jesus turns to the boy and says you are not going to finish your path and sucks all the water out of him and causes him to look like a shriveled up little tree and basically just kills him on the spot. Well, first off, I'd like to say that's not the Jesus that I see in the Bible. But if I was in Jesus's shoes and the Pharisees turned to me and said Jacob, where's your father? We're not the ones who are illegitimate children. If they said that to me, unfortunately, I'd probably do that. Would you guys agree with that? If you guys were in Jesus's shoes and they say something so evil, just be like that cuts me so deep. It's over. If I had Jesus's power, just wow, where'd the Pharisees go? That's crazy. They're gone now. But what does Jesus do? He doesn't do that. We don't see Jesus lashing out here. And I think this is really important to reflect on because they were attacking Jesus. They were attacking the character of his mom. They were attacking who he was for things he couldn't control. This is terrible. I'm sure we've all been made fun of for things that we can't control and it hurts us. And I think it would have hurt Jesus too. But why doesn't Jesus lash out? Well, I think it's because he knew who he was in his father's eyes. Why do I say that? Because when we know our identity in Christ, the importance that we have from knowing how the father views us is that there is power and knowing that whatever anyone else says, however, anyone else is going to make fun of us. We know, hey, you know what? My heavenly father doesn't view me that way. So it doesn't matter what you say. Sometimes I do worse on Saturday night and sometimes I get made fun of for it because I ain't that good. But you know what? What do I care? I know what Jesus thinks about worship when we're out of tune, off key, off tempo, whatever it is. I know what Jesus thinks about that worship. What do you guys think he thinks? He thinks it's awesome because we're praising him. So, you know what? It matters if someone else is making fun of me. It does hurt my feelings a little bit. I'm going to be honest, but it shouldn't matter. You know why? Because I know what my heavenly father thinks and I believe Jesus knew so well what his father thought of him that these attacks from other people meant nothing. You could attack him. You can make fun of him. But you know what? He had power in knowing what his heavenly father thought about him and that made him invincible to those attacks. There is power in knowing our identity in Christ. So we know ourselves. We know that we're fallen, but we're loved by God. When we dwell on that, we can know the character of our heavenly father that you know what? When someone else makes fun of us, harasses us, it's okay because that's not how God views us and there's power in that. And when we have that power, we can walk in freedom. Why do I say walk in freedom? The Israelites basically asked the same thing. Let's go down. Actually, we're going to go back up to verse 31 through 35. As we look at our final thing. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. And they answered him. We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? Jesus replied, very truly. I tell you anyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. What happens here? Jesus tells these people that Jesus makes us free and they respond with, well, we've never been slaves before. So how can we be free? And Jesus explains that it's selfishness that enslaves us. So I have a question for you guys. How many of you guys have ever been slaves before? How have you been a slave? I agree. Really? What? Okay. That's crazy. I would love that at the end of service, though. None of us in here have ever been slaves before. So how can Jesus say that he's going to be setting us free? Well, he explains here. That selfishness traps us in bad consequences. When the Bible says that whoever sins is a slave to sin. Why do you guys think that is? Any guesses? Because it sounds right, right? Slave makes us a sin, or sorry, sin makes us a slave. That's backwards. Sin makes us a slave. That sounds about right. Sin is bad. Slavery is bad. So sin makes us a slave. Okay, but what does that actually mean? Why does it say that? Because when we sin, we can choose not to, right? Even if we've sinned before, we can say, okay, I'm done sinning now. A slave can't say, okay, I'm done being a slave now. That's not how it works. So why would it say that sin makes us a slave? I thought about this and I think I have a good answer. Oh, were you raising your hand? Yeah. Yeah, but slaves don't choose it. They have to be slaves. We don't have to sin. We could choose not to. But I've thought about it and I think I have a good answer. And the answer is that the way that sin enslaves us is that it traps us in bad consequences. We can always choose. Hey, you know what? I'm not going to choose the sin this time. A slave can't say I'm not going to be a slave today, but we can choose to say, hey, you know what? I don't want to do this bad thing, this selfish thing. But that doesn't stop us from being slaves to the consequences of the sins that we've already done. Why do I say that? Let's check out these grades. You guys ever failed a class before? No. Okay. How many of you guys have ever got to your report card and your parents say, you better turn this around before the end of the year? I have. All right. I had a bad grade in English one time. My mom was like, you better turn this around stat. You guys ever had to pick up your grade in a class before? Is it pretty hard? Not that hard. Well, your grade must not be that low. If you're failing halfway through the year, how hard do you think it's going to be to pick that grade up? Pretty hard. If you're failing all your classes, how hard do you think it's going to be to pick that back up? You're never going to do it. It's going to be impossible. You've dug yourself in quite a hole here. Now, I don't have classes like you guys, but I wanted to touch on something that I find quite interesting. How many of you guys know what coding is? Really? Oh, that makes me super excited. Genuinely. I really love coding guys. This is Python up here. If you guys were wondering, I love coding stuff. I'm not good at it. I used to add to BT, but it's fun. Anyways. Well, this is code up here. How many guys have a phone at home or on you or a tablet or a computer? Or a video game console? What about Nintendo Switch? What about Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch? Oh, this is going to work out perfectly. Perfectly. So in coding, it takes a lot of lines of code to do something. Do you guys know what code is? What is it? What is it? Directions. It is a human talking to a computer. A computer understands what this means, even if you guys don't. And a human writes this to tell a computer what they're supposed to do. And by doing that, we get awesome phones and computers and tablets and video games and all these awesome things. But if you start coding and you're really lazy at the beginning and you start out with a method, that's super lazy. When you get thousands of lines more into it, do you think your code is going to work very well? If you were lazy at the beginning? No, you start getting something called technical debt, which is where you were really lazy at the beginning with your method. And now that you're trying to dig yourself out of that hole, you're having a really, really, really hard time with it. You guys ever played Minecraft on the Nintendo switch? You guys, you guys ever play a Minecraft and you try to fly forward and the chunks won't load. It's it is not optimized. The switch isn't good enough to do it. When we're lazy at the beginning, we get that technical debt and it is a huge pain to dig ourselves out of that hole. The problem with sin is that it traps us in consequences that are too deep for us to dig ourselves out of just like the technical debt, just like failing all your classes halfway through the year. You're going to have a really, really, really hard time trying to get yourself out of those consequences from sin. But what does Jesus do? Jesus takes us out of that. Jesus resets that for us. Do you guys know what the number one consequence of selfishness or sin is? Death death for how long? Ever why? Because selfishness is saying, God, your path is great walking with you. That's really cool. But I'm going to walk on my own path away from you a different way. And the natural result of that is what? That we're walking away from God. Digging ourselves out of that hole is impossible. That's the reason Jesus had to come. And the reason that we need to place our identity in him is that he takes us out of that. He resets it. He gives us A's in our classes. Maybe not right now, but in terms of our relationship with God, he gives us a big old fat A. This technical debt, he resets all of it and he does that so that we can be free, which is what he says right here, free from the slavery of sin that we are trapped in those consequences. The importance of our identity in Christ is that God works all things for the good of those who love him. And when we have a relationship with him, we are the ones who love him. Foundationally, we need to know our condition. We need to know that we are sinful, but we are amazingly loved. And when we know ourselves how much God loves us, we can know the character of the father. We can have power from that knowing whatever anyone else says about us. God loves us and that's enough. And then when we know that we can walk in freedom, knowing that the consequences of our sin eternity away from God are dealt with and gone. And now we can live on that path with God again. And that is awesome. That is the importance of our identity in Christ. And I want to touch on one one final thing. I'll own. I'll take your comment at the end. Thanks, buddy. I'll touch on one final thing. How many of you guys know on Wednesday a man was publicly assassinated? You guys have heard about that. Yeah, Charlie Kirk. You guys notice I wasn't here on Wednesday. I saw a very graphic video of it for my own mental health. I wanted to go home because mental health is important. Duh. But a man was assassinated on Wednesday. And that's sad. He had a wife. He had kids. That's a huge tragedy. Can we all agree? That's a very sad thing when anyone is killed. It is sad. I watched a video from one of his good friends who was talking about it. And I think he made a really good point. It is totally valid for our hearts to break for Charlie Kirk's family for his little children for his wife. That's terrible. That's very sad. It's good for our hearts to break when anyone dies. But you know who our hearts don't need to break for? Charlie. Why would I say that? Why would I say that? Charlie was a believer. Charlie openly proclaimed his faith to other people and had his identity in Christ. Do you think that he went to that public speech public forum expecting never to go home to his wife and kids? I don't think so. Do you think his family expected that? I don't think so either. But this was a man who didn't wait to put his identity in Christ. Jesus says this about when we, when we die and we go to him, what do we hear? Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. He doesn't call us good because we've done something awesome with our lives. He calls us good and faithful servants because we've placed our identity in him, who we are, is his child. And for Charlie Kirk, that's who he was. He was a child of God. He openly proclaimed his identity in Christ. And because of that, do you know what Charlie heard? Wednesday afternoon? Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the rest of your master. It our hearts break for Charlie's family, but our hearts don't need to break for Charlie. Because Charlie's in a much better place than we are. Charlie gets to be with his master Jesus and gets to hear that from now into eternity because he was someone who placed his identity in Christ. He didn't know when he was going to meet his master. But he was ready for when he did because he didn't wait to put his identity in Christ. And so I urge you, don't wait to put your identity in Christ. Please. Take it seriously. Put your identity in Christ. Hear your condition that we need help. Know your father who loves you and walk in that freedom each and every day that we have now that he's paid our debt. That is the importance of our identity in Christ that we can have relationship with him. And when it is time for us to go home to him. We can hear well done and good and faithful servant whenever that is. That is the importance of our identity in Christ. So I'm going to invite up Jordan as he closes out with a song and guys, I'm sure many of you guys have seen terrible videos of what happened. And like I said, I went home. All right, that was hard for me. I needed to go home not be with other people and just process and I know many of you guys have seen terrible things and not been able to process it because you're not sure how. And so I want to encourage you guys. We're going to have leaders in the back who are here for you and who love you and want to help you to process hard things because life is going to be hard, but we can have confidence and trust in God. The importance of our identity in Christ is that he works all things for the good of those who love him. So please talk to a leader in the back. Let them pray with you. So we can do this together. Let's pray now and Jordan close us out with a final song. God, we thank you so much for this time. God, I know today it's just a much more sad day than what we're usually used to. I think and God, I pray that you would be with us, that you would remind us and give us confidence that you work all things for the good of those who love you, that we are selfish. We do things that we want, but God, you love us anyways and you want us to be with you. We thank you so much for that, that we can know you know your character, that no matter what anyone else says about us, no matter what else happens to us, we know that you love us and that what you say goes. God, you love us. You think we're amazing because we're your creation. We thank you for that. God, help us to walk in the freedom that you give Lord. We thank you for this time. Jesus name. We pray. Amen. We're going to have leaders in the back.
